Dear Alice
by apunkrockfairytale
Summary: After Alice is sent to the asylum, Cyrus, with the help of Will, manages to escape Jafar and returns to find Alice. Only, she has yet to leave the asylum. Cyrus arrives to find a broken and abused Alice who screams at his mere sight. Will Cyrus ever be able to return Alice to her beautiful, adventurous, loving self that he fell in love with all those ago?
1. Chapter 1

Somewhere within a small English town, a young man walks into a bar; asking about a girl he had known and trying to find answers as to where she might be.  
"Excuse me," He says to the bartender, "I'm looking for a girl..."  
"Arn't we all," Replies the pasty bartender, polishing glasses, laughing slightly at his own joke, "What does she look like? Perhaps i know her. Better yet, what does she kiss like? That's the way i tend to remember women! Either way, I tell nothing if you don't buy a scotch. This is a business, you know!"  
"Well, i'm afraid i'm not one for scotch," The man said.  
"Rum, bourbon; it does not matter. NOt as long as you buy a drink." The young gentleman sits reluctantly at the bar. He gingerly grabs his wallet from his front pocket, and takes out two bills, throwing them down on the table.  
"There. Now tell me, have you seen my Alice?"  
"Alice is her name, eh? And what, exactly, does this Alice look like?"  
"Long, brown, hair that curls at the ends and fades to a lighter shade ever so slightly towards the bottom; With huge brown eyes that you could get lost in for ages. With lips so soft-"  
"This Alice must be something to have you all wound up like this. Never seen a man so in love in all my years. Perhaps, I have seen this Alice of yours, up by the old... Institution. Lives there, I believe. If that's the case... good luck mate."  
_Why would i need luck?_ The man thought, _if she's simply living at an institution? _The young man yet to understand what the bartender meant.

...

'Wellard Mental Institution for the Mentally Ill,' the sign read. _No,_ he thought_, this can't be true. Please let this be a mistake. Please.  
"_Sir. _Sir._ I must find someone institutionalized here," he had to force the word out. Institutionalized. "Please Sir, her name is Alice!" The urgency in this young mans voice was the only thing to grapple the attention of the worker all day.

"Alice, you say? That can't be. There is only one Alice treated here, and no one has visited that poor girl in the 5 years shes been here. Now if you would, please go. Your upsetting out patients."

"5 years?" was the only thing that broke through the broken man's lips. His voice was weak, even for the breathless whisper of this mans agonized voice. You could hear his heart break in that whisper, and as the young man stood their silent, all his hope was lost.

5 years ago he had left her.

5 years. she had been here for 5 years and... it was his fault.

The worker saw his devastated face, and he knew. This was him. the one she had waited for all these years. The worker's name was Theodore, and he was especially close to Alice. No one had believed her. They called her crazy. Insane. But never Theodore. No, never Theodore. He knew what she had said was true. She spoke of another world, adventures there... and a man. A young gentleman whom she had fallen in love with and how he was taken away from her. He could see it in her eyes, it was true. Perhaps not how they met or _what_ he was, but he believed her when she said she had fallen in love. And the sorrow in her eyes was undeniable. She had lost him. Theodore would take Alice to all of her treatments, as if it was some consolation for the pain she was about to Indore. He hated what they did to her, and he _hated_ the fact that he couldn't stop it.

"Follow me," was all Theodore said, and lead the way for the very important man who followed.

...

"Alice?" nothing had prepared him for what he saw. He had always feared what happened to Alice. The scenarios that ran though his head during a late night still haunted him, though the worst he had ever thought possible was death.

He was wrong.

The shell of a girl sat shrivelled in the corner, scared, alone, begging for it to all go away. _This isn't Alice, _was the only thought that he could muster, _And it's my fault_.


	2. Chapter 2

As Theodore lets the man into the padded room, All the could think of was his and Alice's conversations over the years. Recalling every word said, every movement made.

_"Why are you here, Alice?" He asked._  
_"You ask this everyday, and you yet to understand."_  
_"So make me understand, Alice." He said, but the truth remained he would never understand why someone would do this to such a young, beautiful, strong, and brave girl. Why someone would kill that. Her strength, Her bravery, Her heart. Her._  
_"My past haunts me. You don't want to be part of that. Your too good for it. They might have gotten to mine, but i won't let them get to yours, too." Alice was always cryptic. Even with her vague answers, Theodore would always push to know more. Always. He wanted to know everything about her. He loved her._

"Theodore!" A voice screamed, "Who is in to see young Alice!? She is terribly ill you know! She believes in talking rabbits. No family would ever visit her! _Who is it_?"

_"Why don't you leave, Alice? Why!? I can't stand what they do to you. Please, Alice. Leave. For me," He had asked her, "Why won't you just leave!? Leave here before you get killed!" He yelled as she just shook her head._  
_"One more day." Same answer as always. Same as yesterday and the day before. Why wouldn't she just leave, Theodore wondered. And in truth, it made him angry._  
_"Why Alice!?" He screamed. Alice gasped and flinched back, but Theodore didn't care. It was for her own good. "Why is it always one. more. day?!" Alice was balled in the corner, shaking violently._

"Do you hear me, Theodore!? Who's In there!?" Sneared the angry Dr. Lydgate.

_Alice was roaming the courtyard, something she rarely was allowed and always enjoyed. Theodore watched her. Standing there, her hair curled perfectly around her face as she sniffed the roses, and pulled back to look at them fondly, remembering a distant memory. perhaps about her love, Theodore thought remorsefully. She turned to look at Theodore, who was leaning against the glass, watching her._  
_"You remind me of him, you know. Same bravery, same wit..." She trailed off, lost in a memory, "You're the one person who makes it bearable here."_  
_"Than leave." Theodore said, seizing the opportunity. He didn't care if he and his love were separated. After all, she loved someone else. She would never love him. And he was never a good enough reason for her to stay, even if she did love him back. She needed to leave, soon. Before they killed her._  
_"One more day," She said gently._  
_"Why Alice? Why is it always one more day!?"_  
_"One more day then i swear that i'm going home..." She chuckled slightly, "Truth is i don't really have a place to go."_

"Theodore! I demand you to tell me who, or i am to go look myself and that is _not_ something you want!" Theodore didn't care. Let him would go. As if it would make some kind of difference. But Theodore knew, that for the sake of Alice, he had to. He had to protect her. And this time, he feared, that included hurting her.  
"Theodore! WHO?!"  
Theodore simply looked over his shoulder, Never even turning away from the work at hand. And in a calm and monotone voice he simply said the one word that would change everything.

"Cyrus."


End file.
